For the first time in decades, China has not set a quantitative target for the creation of new urban jobs in its upcoming five-year plan. This was reported by Bloomberg.
According to the agency, referring to the five-year plan for 2026-2030 published by China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, authorities intend to maintain the number of new jobs created in cities at a “high level.” At the same time, annual targets will be set flexibly, taking into account the economic conditions of each year.
Bloomberg estimates that this is the first time since the 1990s that a key indicator for creating new urban jobs has not been included in the country’s medium-term economic plan.
The agency believes that the refusal to set specific figures indicates the complex challenges facing China. Authorities are simultaneously trying to protect the country’s vast labor market from potential job cuts due to artificial intelligence and continue technological competition with the US and other leading countries.
The plan notes that the government will “comprehensively consider the impact of changes in the external environment and new technologies, including artificial intelligence, on employment.”
The document also emphasizes that industrial transformations and demographic changes create “new challenges for economic development and social governance.”
According to Bloomberg, in the annual work report published in March, China set a target of creating more than 12 million new urban jobs for 2026 while ensuring economic growth of 4.5-5%. The agency notes that this is the lowest target for economic growth since 1991.
The article also mentions that in the previous five years, China’s official target was to create more than 55 million new urban jobs. For comparison, in the five-year plan from 1996 to 2000, when comparable statistical data began to be applied, it was planned to create 40 million new jobs.
